


Snow Lilies

by WorryinglyInnocent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, Dark Castle, F/M, Fluff, Fluffapalooza, Relationship Beginnings, enchanted forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:43:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22677568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: Belle is spring cleaning the Dark Castle, and she and Rumpel ponder the meaning of home.Written for the @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt:song, memory, spring, and my contribution to @fluffapalooza 2020.
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 10
Kudos: 38





	Snow Lilies

Rumpelstiltskin was about to announce his presence in the main hall in his usual flamboyant style, demanding tea and cakes and laundry done immediately, but something stopped him in the doorway. 

He would never admit, of course, that the thing that had stopped him was Belle, but it was. 

She was sitting on one of the windowsills, rubbing away vigorously at the glass until all the smears of dust were gone and the surface gleamed. He’d never known her so enthusiastic about her chores before; she’d even tied her hair back with a handkerchief to keep it out of her face as she worked. 

Given her normally dreamy nature, preferring to sit with a book rather than put more effort into the housework than necessary, Rumpel was surprised by this newfound energy, and he continued to watch her for a while as she scrubbed at the panes, completely oblivious to his presence and singing a soft, lilting little song. Every so often she would forget the words and hum instead, but it was nonetheless a pretty tune. 

Presently she finished up the window and slipped off the sill, going to the next one and startling on seeing Rumpel in the doorway.

“You gave me a fright, Rumpel! What are you doing, sneaking up on me like that? What’s got into you?”

“I could ask the same of you, singing as you work so diligently. Are you coming down with a fever?”

Belle just rolled her eyes and pulled herself up onto the next windowsill. It was clear to Rumpelstiltskin that she wasn’t going to pay him any attention whatsoever, and despite his appearance in the main hall of an afternoon usually signalling to her that it was time for her to stop whatever she was doing and take a well-earned tea break with him, if he wanted any tea, he was going to have to get it himself.

All the same, he was very intrigued by her newfound obsession with making the windows shine, so instead of summoning tea and biscuits as he took a few steps into the room, he watched her for a few minutes. He was about to make some quip about her putting the same amount of elbow grease into conditioning his leather coats as she did into polishing the windows, but something made him stop.

There was a definite sense of purpose in Belle’s movements, and her vigorous action seemed completely at odds with the whimsical tune that she was singing again. Rumpelstiltskin didn’t think that he had ever heard Belle sing before, let alone sing that song.

He drew up alongside her, gazing out of the window. He could see his own reflection in it alongside hers, and he knew that she could see him too and was ignoring him. Well, not ignoring him per se, but simply not giving him any mind.

“Did the windows do something to you?” he asked eventually. “I was wondering why you were attacking them with such verve.”

Belle shrugged. “The snow lilies have bloomed.”

Rumpelstiltskin just looked at her incredulously. If she thought that was going to be a satisfactory enough explanation for him, then she would be disappointed.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The snow lilies.” Belle pointed out of the window to where the first shoots of long white flowers could be seen poking out of what remained of the snow on the ground. “They’ve bloomed.”

“Yes, I can see that. What I don’t see is what the snow lilies have to do with your sudden fascination for cleaning the windows.”

“It’s not just the windows,” Belle said. “It’s everything. Snow lilies blooming means that it’s time to spring clean and let new air and life in. Back at home in the Marchlands, the snow lilies blooming meant that the servants would be going through the castle like a whirlwind, cleaning everything that stood still too long. Including me. So, since they’ve bloomed now, I thought that I would continue the tradition and spring clean here as well. Goodness only knows how much the place needs it.”

Rumpelstiltskin opened his mouth to make some kind of protest, but he thought better of it. After all, he’d admitted himself many times when Belle questioned him as to the exact reason for her being here, that the place was filthy. He could hardly be offended when she agreed with him.

“Oh,” he said eventually instead. “Oh. Well. It’s time for tea.”

“I know, I know. Just let me finish this window and I’ll go and get it. Considering the odd hours that you keep, you’re very particular when it comes to time for tea and cakes.”

Rumpel waved a hand and the tea things appeared on the table. “No, no, it’s all right. I just thought that after all the cleaning you’ve been doing, you might like some refreshment.”

Belle twisted and looked over at the table, a small smile spreading over her face. “Why, Rumpelstiltskin! You want to be careful. Someone might think that you cared about your maid.”

“Of course not. I simply don’t want you perishing of malnourishment.”

He wasn’t sure what had made him summon the tea and invite her to leave her work in the first place, and even if he did care – which he most certainly didn’t – he knew that he couldn’t admit that much to Belle.

She raised an eyebrow, seeing straight through his bluster in the way that she had learned to do worryingly quickly after she had first arrived in the Dark Castle.

“Of course,” she said, deadpan, as she slipped off the windowsill and went over to the table.

“Good help is very hard to find these days!” Rumpelstiltskin protested, following her over and taking a cup for himself. “Where else would I find someone who works so zealously when certain flowers are in bloom?”

Belle didn’t respond, and Rumpelstiltskin realised that he was digging himself ever deeper into a hole that he had no desire to remain in for any longer. It was probably best to pretend that the conversation had never happened and change the subject.

“That tune,” he began. It wasn’t exactly getting them off topic altogether, but at least he wasn’t trying and failing to deny his feelings anymore. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before. What is it?”

“I don’t know.” Belle took a sip of tea, settling into her seat at the table. “I don’t even know what the words mean; I’ve studied a lot of ancient languages but this one is so old I think it’s beyond our ken. All I know is that the servants used to sing it whilst they were doing the spring cleaning. I’ve always associated it with warmth, and summer waiting just around the corner. I suppose it just came to me whilst I was cleaning. I didn’t even realise I was singing it until you mentioned it.”

“It’s very pretty,” Rumpelstiltskin admitted. “I can quite see why it stuck in your memory.”

“It reminds me of home.”

There was something wistful in Belle’s voice, and not for the first time, Rumpelstiltskin wondered if he had made the wrong choice in deciding to bring her here forever. She had agreed willingly, and he knew that she did not regret her decision. He had asked her about it before. Still, she couldn’t enjoy being stuck in the castle with only him for company. And not always that, considering the number of times he left on extended trips to make his deals.

“Do you miss it?”

Belle nodded. “Of course I do. It was the only home I’d ever known. All my family and friends are there, and the memories of my mother. But, as time goes on…”

She trailed off, looking down into the depths of her teacup, and Rumpelstiltskin thought that he could see the beginnings of blush colouring her cheekbones. He raised an eyebrow.

“As time goes on?” he prompted.

“I suppose, as time goes on, I’m starting to see home here as well.” Belle looked up and smiled at him. “Perhaps that’s why I wanted to do the spring cleaning. Sweeping away all the old memories that the castle holds of a time before I was here, and making new ones. Leaving my stamp on my new home, in a way.”

Rumpelstiltskin thought about Belle’s words for a long time after she had finished her tea and gone back to the windows, the light tune reaching his ears once more. The Dark Castle had been his home for almost as long as he had been the Dark One, and there was so much of him in it that it must have seemed daunting to Belle to live here; so alien to what she had known before.

He liked the idea of her working to make it into her home as well. He wanted her to feel at home here. Although he had dealt for a caretaker and he had not really considered her feelings in the matter, his intuition and vague foresight telling him that she was going to be important to him in the future somehow, he wanted her to like living here. She was going to be spending a lot of time here, after all. It would not make sense for her to resent her new abode. He did not want her to resent him.

That thought surprised him. Rumpelstiltskin had spent so long not caring about what people thought of him that this new desire for Belle’s approval, both of himself and of his home, was strange to him.

Nevertheless, he pushed it aside.

“Belle?”

“Yes, Rumpel?”

“I’m glad you feel at home here. Or at least, that you’re starting to. If there’s anything you need to make you feel more at home, please just ask.”

Belle smiled. “I’ll certainly do that, Rumpel. Thank you.”

Rumpelstiltskin chose not to read too far into what he had done. It was spring, after all, and the snow lilies were in bloom. It was a time for fresh starts and turning over new leaves. A time for making little changes, and hoping that they would pay off, and that Belle would appreciate his actions.

He glanced over at her again; she was still watching him, the little smile still on her face, and Rumpelstiltskin couldn’t help but smile back.

Yes, this spring was definitely the start of something new.


End file.
